WCCO (AM)
This article does not relate to the Clear Channel Radio affilate of the same callsign serving Minneapolis and Saint Paul, nor the television station of the same callsign airing on channel 4 and operated by CBS Corporation.. WCCO '''is a commercial AM radio station licensed to Minneapolis serving the Minneapolis-St. Paul broadcast areas. It broadcasts on the 830 AM dial and is owned by Champion Digital Broadcasting. WCCO AM serves as a simulcaster to ABN affiliated station, WCCO channel 4 , dually owned by Fortner Digital Media Properties and Champion Digital Broadcasting. The station serves a seventeen county radius which includes McCleod, Carver, Hennepin, Anoka, Sherburne, Wright, Isanti, Ramsay, Chisago, Sibley, Nicollet, Scott, Le Sueur, Rice, Dakota, Washington and Goodhue and the Northwest Wisconsin counties of Polk, Pierce, Saint Croix, Dunn, Barron and Rusk. Because WCCO's television station also is licencesed to Wilmar, MN, WCCO AM serves an additional seven counties including Kandiyohi, Renville, Meeker, Chippewa, Swift, Pope, and Stearns through Wilmar station, KAWM AM 1100 AM. Notable coverage '''1965 Tornado Outbreak A swath of tornadoes tore a path through the northern fringes of the Twin Cities metropolitan. The hardest hit areas included Spring Lake Park, , Christmas Lake, Lamar, Norwood, and several residential homes near Lake Minnetonka. This was WCCO's first ever full-time breaking weather coverage lasting until midnight. The outbreak left as much as around several dozen dead and scores injured ranging from minor to severe. Mercy General Hospital bordering Coon Rapids and Anoka in Anoka County couldn't give a tally of how many dead or injured because scores of residents were being funneled into the emergency department for various treatments. Of the dead, one was a homesteader, the other an elderly woman in her late 80's. 1984 Moundsview Outbreak The Minnesota community of Moundsview in Ramsay County, east of Spring Lake Park, was hit by a tornado that injured 50 residents and a fatality. Most of the injuries were from a mobile home park. 1986 and 1987 Superstorms Two more outbreaks in the mid-1980's produced more damage in Southern Minnesota and Northwest Wisconsin. It was first in 1986 that a tornado was spotted in Brooklyn Park and Fridley, Minnesota in Central Anoka County affecting Brooklyn Center, Osseo, Fridley, and Moundsview in Ramsey County before racing east towards Chisago County and the communities of Center City and Lindstrom. No injuries or deaths were reported in the 1986 storm. The 1986 outbreak began in Central Anoka County at 4:50 PM Central time, likely due to high humidity in the 80% range and temperatures in the 90's. It created an explosive reaction causing the swath of F1 and F2 rated twisters to spawn for close to two hours. In the 1987 "superstorm" coverage, tornadoes were again being spotted in Anoka County where they first began to sprout in Wright and Hennepin County moving eastward. WCCO was going to be broadcasting a Minnesota Twins game against the Toronto Blue Jays, but interrupted with official information regarding damage in Southern Anoka County, Northern Ramsay County, Southern Wright County and Northern Hennepin county creating a sort of zig-zag pattern from one storm to another. Category:Minneapolis Category:St. Paul Category:Willmar Category:Minnesota Category:ABN Radio stations Category:Champion Digital Broadcasting Category:830 AM Category:Class A Clear channel stations Category:Radio stations established in 1988 Category:All-News radio stations